"The majority of educated Canadians still believe the best place for a child under six is at home with a parent," said IMFC executive director Andrea Mrozek, after releasing child care polling data exclusively to QMI Agency.

A previous poll showed Canadians largely favoured at-home care for kids, but Mrozek says the results also hold up when broken down by education level.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents with at least a high school diploma agreed that it's best for a child to be at home with mom or dad instead of some other caregiver.

Support for the home option rose to 80% for those who had some university education, but dropped to 68% for university grads and 62% for those who had a postgraduate degree.

If staying home with a parent isn't possible, Mrozek says most poll respondents would choose a relative or neighbour to take care of junior.

She says that's a message for provincial and federal politicians.

"Stop preferentially funding day care centres, which is what our public policy almost across the board does," said Mrozek.

Less than one-third of those with post-graduate or undergraduate degrees chose day cares as the best option for kids.

Support for that option sinks to just 16% for high school grads.

The Abingdon Research poll of 2,022 Canadians in January has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.